The present invention relates generally to the field of nanophotonics, more particularly to electro-optic modulators in electro-optic integrated circuits, and even more particularly to mechanical and thermal design of electro-optic modulator hardware.
Nanophotonics involves the generation, emission, transmission, manipulation—such as by modulation, amplification, or switching—and detection of light at very short length scales. These length scales are typically in the nanometer or low micrometer range and shorter than the wavelength of the light involved. The light itself may lie anywhere along the electromagnetic spectrum, from near infra-red or lower frequency to ultraviolet or beyond, with near infra-red light being of particular current interest due to its widespread use as a data transmission medium for telecommunications.
Nanophotonics includes, but is not limited to, optical and electro-optical components of integrated circuits constructed in a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication process, for which silicon is presently the most common basic building block. Such silicon nanophotonic components promise advancements in the speed, functionality, and power efficiency of integrated circuits while simultaneously leveraging the benefits of highly evolved CMOS fabrication technologies.